Labels

Thursday, July 30, 2015

My girls and I love audio dramas. We mostly listen to them while we are on a road trip. We like to listen to them while we clean too, but sometimes we get distracted from what we are doing. We just listened to With Lee In Virginia from Heirloom Audio Productions and it is just as good as their first two audio dramas.

With Lee In Virginia, Under Drake's Flag, and In Freedom's Cause audio dramas are all based off of the G.A. Henty books with the same names. Heirloom Audio has done an amazing job at bringing these adventures to life for people of all ages.

We received the two disc audio drama cd plus the free 52 page study guide. The 2 1/2 hour adventure is recommended for ages 6-adult. There are some big names from Adventures in Odyssey, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Mom's Night Out that take part in this audio. Sean Astin, Brian Blessed, Chris Anthony, Kelsey Lansdowne, Kirk Cameron with one of his sons, and more. What happens when you put all these amazing voices together? You get an audio adventure that will take you back in time and make you feel like you are living it.

With Lee In Virginia takes us back in time to the Civil War when a fifteen-year-old named Vincent Wingfield joins the Army of Northern Virginia Cavalry. He soon finds himself fighting alongside famous Confederate generals. This is an audio drama that includes background noises to make you feel as if you are there. The characters really come alive and the voices feel like they fit the characters perfectly.

The beautiful study guide really adds a lot to the audio drama especially if you have a child that isn't familiar with this time in history. At the beginning there is a brief introduction to G.A. Henty, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. There are three sections for each lesson that includes Listening Well questions to see if your child understood what was going on. Some of these are fairly simple. There is also a Thinking Further section, and this includes questions to help the student think, draw conclusions, and speculate. There isn't always a right or wrong answer to these questions, but they will help you understand the story better. Lastly there are defining words. The words are taken from the story and your child may or may not already know the definition. Each page of the study guide tells you what disc and track number to listen to before answering the questions which makes using this study guide very simple. There is also a bible study on duty, facts about the Civil War, and a map to trace the route that was traveled in the story.

We received our CD the day before we were going out of town. Which was perfect! The bad part was we were only on the road for an hour. When we reached our destination we did not want to get out of the car. Amber wanted to know why when we had a good story we didn't have very far to drive. We were all already looking forward to the drive home. Later we listened to the audio drama again and this time we answered the questions in the study guide. I like how some of the questions were very easy to answer to include my 10 year old, but there were others that got us all thinking about why things were happening in the story.

We have listened to With Lee In Virginia several times just during this review period and we will be listening to it often. My adult son read every G. A. Henty book as a boy and those are the only books he took with him when he left home. He is planning a big road trip in October and the girls wanted to send him all three of our Heirloom Audio Productions CDs so that he could listen to them while he is driving. After they thought about this for awhile they decided we should buy him his own copy because they don't want to take the chance of him loosing ours.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Math is not my kids favorite subject. They would much rather study about some far off place hundreds or more years ago. This summer we have been using UnLock Math.

UnLock Math is an online math program that teaches Algebra. We received UnLock Pre-Algebra to review and the Algebra course will be available in August 2015 with Algebra 2 coming out in 2016. Unlock Pre-Algebra will cover 159 days if used according to the Pacing Guide.

Amber loves story problems and fractions, but she hated the program she used last year for Pre-Algebra, so I thought we would like to give UnLock Math a try. The program is very user friendly. When the student first logs in they will see their dashboard. They can choose to unlock a section by clicking on the padlock for that lesson or they can launch their lesson by clicking on the red rocket. From this page you can also see your course progress and percent, launch the grade book or see a progress report.

Once Amber launched her lesson she knew at a glance where she needed to go each day. There is WarmUp in the top right with little dots that lead to the video segment, then they lead to the Practice, Stay Sharp, Challenge, and Reference Notes. There is no way she could get lost.

Warm Up ~ There are a few review questions to get your brain in math mode. Once Amber completed them she could look at her results, but they do not count toward the grades.

Video Segment ~ The videos are given by UnLock Math creator Alesia Blackwood. These video segments are very short and she is very animated as she talks. She uses facial features and hand motions that make you feel you are actually in her class.

Practice ~ Here the student has questions that relate to what was just taught in the video. These questions can be answered as many times as they need to and the best grade will be recorded. This section is 30% of the grade.

Stay Sharp ~ There are review problems in this section. The student can work on these as many times as they would like and their best grade is recorded. This section is 10% of the grade.

Challenge ~ A story problem to get the kids to think is included here. This problem may not be for everyone and it doesn't have to be answered to show the lesson is complete. If the child chooses to answer it they are awarded 5% bonus.

Reference Notes ~ This is a down loadable note page from the lesson. The vocabulary words are written in a bright blue color. This makes it easy for the student to find what they need especially when they need to review a concept.

There are also Reviews, Quizzes, Tests, Midterms, and a Final Exam. The reviews are not graded and can be completed as many times as the student needs. The quizzes are 15% and can be completed twice and the average score is recorded. The tests are worth 30% and can be taken twice with the best grade being kept. The midterm can only be completed once and is 5% of the grade. The final exam is worth 10%. This can only be taken once and will give you a good indication of how much of the material the student has retained.

Amber used the program, she said she is understanding things better now & she really likes that the videos are short and get straight to the point. Amber and I both think that Aleisa has made Pre-Algebra very easy to understand. I am looking forward to seeing how much of the information Amber retains when she is finished. I am hoping she actually gets it this time around and can move onto Algebra with confidence.

Aleisa was a homeschool student starting in 4th grade. She went back to public school for high school and she knew she wanted to become a math teacher. She holds a teaching certificate to teach 7-12 grade math. After marrying her husband and having children they realized there is a need for a homeschool math curriculum that would ease the stress of teaching your children. Together using Aleisa's method of teaching they started UnLock Math.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

A few years ago my kids gave me a cookbook that has copy cat recipes in it. There were recipes from restaurants that we had never heard of and one of them was the Pizza Ranch. Back in May we were in Columbus, NE playing soccer and they have a Pizza Ranch. We decided to eat there after our game with a few more of the soccer players. We were all very pleased with their food and the service was excellent. We came in right before closing and they weren't stocking the buffet any more, but we could ask for any pizza we wanted and they would put it out. The pizza was hot & delicious we will definitely be eating there again when we are around one.

The Pizza Ranch was a dream of Adrie Groeneweg in 1981 when he was only 19. He wondered why people had to drive out of town (Hull, IA) to get pizza. With a few recipes developed by his mom the Pizza Ranch was born. They now have over 190 locations across 13 states.

Pizza Ranch has a vision and mission to glorify God. On June 2, 2015, Pizza Ranch released a CD called Living Hope. There are 12 songs from many of their Christian artists, most of them are brand-new and were written for this CD around the theme of Hope.

Future ~ Francesca Battistelli

Blind ~ Colton Dixon

My All In All ~ Phil Wickham

Hold Onto Hope ~ Ellie Holcomb

Savior's Arms ~ Passion Band

Overcome The World ~ Mark Schultz

Panic Button ~ Kevin Max

Hope of Heaven ~ Michael W. Smith

Till I Met You ~ Laura Story

A Little Hope ~ Bart Millard

What Are You Waiting For ~ Sidewalk Prohets

Day One ~ Matthew West

My girls and I have been listening to this CD for a couple of weeks and we love it. The musicians are favorites of the Pizza Ranch and they are also favorites of ours. We already loved Day One and Francesca Battistelli is one of our favorite artists.

From Adrie Groeneweg, President & CEO of Pizza Ranch, Inc.: "This album has a very special meaning for Pizza Ranch. Although Pizza Ranch is not in the music business, many things have been happening, conversations have been taking place and doors have been opening for this album. Through these events, I believe it was obvious that God has been behind this for His specific purpose and putting it on our hearts to collectively create this project. As such, we call this our miracle album, Living Hope."

You can purchase the CD for $5 plus tax only in Pizza Ranch restaurants or you can download it atpizzaranch.com/livinghopethrough August 31. Or if you are in the US or Canada you can enter my giveaway below.

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Talking to our preteens and teens about purity can sometimes be a challenge, but it is something that must be done. Kids grow up so fast and they are bombarded with so many inappropriate things in their preteen & teenage years. The Passport2Purity by Dennis & Barbara Rainey can be a life-changing weekend with your preteen.

We must talk to our kids about sex no matter how comfortable or uncomfortable you may think it is. I don't think keeping our kids pure will happen when we expect them to obey all of the rules perfectly. It must be a heart issue for our kids, they must want to protect themselves to remain pure. If we have a good relationship with our kids they will feel more comfortable talking to us about their struggles. The P2P is designed to be used with mother and daughter or father and son when they are preteens. The plan for the P2P is to getaway from home with your son or daughter to make the weekend more special. If that isn't possible you could make it a weekend at home or spread it out a little longer.

The P2P getaway takes you and your preteen on a weekend trip they will never forget. Everything is laid out for you and is very easy to implement. The weekend actually starts early for the parent, so they can get things ready and pray for their weekend. On Friday you will complete the first 2 sessions and on Saturday you will go through the last 3. There are things to follow up the weekend including devotionals to help your preteen remain pure.

The getaway kit contains:

A Tour Guide for the parent- This softcover book includes checklists to prepare for the weekend getaway, and what to do on the days you are there. Plus chapters for each session with topics and questions to discuss.

Travel Journal for the preteen with 25 follow-up devotions- This hard back journal is very colorful and fun with chapters for each session, and 25 devotions to keep your heart and mind pursuing purity.

8 CDs containing 5 sessions, scripture memory songs and MP3s- Each session has scripture memory songs, real life stories from teens and adults, and teaching from parents who have been there.

My kids and I love to play games, and I love when we find educational games that they like to play as much or more than games of chance. Our newest game we have is Shape Whiz from SimplyFun.

Shape Whiz is a game of Speed and Geometry recommended for ages 10 & up. The game comes with shape cards and whiz cards. There are two sets of shape cards. There are 45 basic shapes and 35 complex shapes. You can use the basic shape cards for younger children or just to make it easier while learning to play the game. Then mix in the complex shapes for older children or for more of a challenge. Each player is given 15 shape cards (or less for quicker game play) and flips over three to play with at a time. One whiz card should be looked at at a time and the players race to see if they have a shape to match the description. If you have a match, your shape card and the whiz card will be discarded. The player to run out of their cards first wins.

The shape cards contain geometric shapes on a grid. The regular shape blue cards are basic shapes like squares, triangles, rectangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms. The complex cards are green and contain circles, tear drops, half ovals, hexagons, and more. On the back of these cards you will find information that answers the questions on the whiz cards. It tells you the number of sides, perimeter, area, and more information to help answer the questions.

The whiz cards are double sided and they contain phrases to be answered by finding the correct shape card. There is a sample shape on a grid in the middle of the card. If the player doesn't know if their card matches the whiz card they can look at the back of the shape card to find the answer.

The instruction booklet contains all the instructions to play the game and the principles of geometry. It explains mathematical signs and symbols, area, angels, curves, polygons, and more to help you understand what the whiz card is asking.

We played this game as a family. The first couple of times we played and every time when Alaina (age 10) played we didn't race to see who could find the correct card. We all looked at our three playing shape cards to see if we had a match. If we had a match we all discarded them. That way she could have more time to see if her cards matched and could work on concepts that she doesn't know. I was very surprised that everyone caught on very quickly. After just a few times even Alaina could look at her shapes and quickly see the area and perimeter of her shapes. The biggest thing my younger kids struggled with at the beginning were the angels, but they are slowly picking up on those.

I absolutely love this game. Even with everyone slowly looking at their cards to see if they had the right ones it went very quickly. The best part is they are getting faster at recognizing the concepts they know and they are learning new ones without trying. I think it would be great if the shape cards had the name of the shapes included on them. There are a few of the complex cards that Alaina wasn't sure what to call them.

SimplyFun is a young award-winning company that has big dreams of making the world a better place through play. They have over 100 products that meet educational needs of children ages 3-103, but are fun for the whole family. They offer games for many concepts including math, science, geography, language development, and more. The games can be played in 30 minutes or less or longer when your kids won't want to quit.

If you are into saving money on games or making money selling them you can join SimplyFun as a Playologist, join their discount club as a Play Saver if you are planning on purchasing several games, host a Laugh & Learn Party with SimplyFun online or in your home, or use the coupon code below for your first purchase.

Members of the Crew also reviewed the games Expanders. I plan on reading their reviews to see if we would like it & I already have a wish list going of other SimplyFun games we would like to play.

~~Coupon Code~~

To receive 15% off your first order placed by July 31, 2015 use code: SHREVIEW

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

I have learned more about history by studying with my kids than I ever did in school. We love to travel to far off places experience life in a different time. This summer we have been traveling with Project Passport World History: The Middle Ages from Home School in the Woods. By using short text, audio tours, timeline figures, lapbook & notebooking activities, and hands-on projects make learning history fun & memorable.

As you travel through The Middle Ages there are 25 stops that can last 8-12 weeks. Each stop has Guide Book Text to read for the topic and a Travel Itinerary that includes directions and project choices. There are instructions with pictures on exactly how to put the lapbook together, and seven MP3s to take you on your journey. All the printables that you need are included as a PDF. The topics include Medieval life, Barbarian invasions, inventions, church history, knights, battles, and more. Some of the project that can be made include a viking longship, stained glass windows, a robin hood cap, a cookbook, and more.

After getting all my files downloaded I moved the Itinerary Stops and the Text Stops to my iPad. The itinerary tells you exactly what you will be doing including all activities, worksheets, timeline figures, and extra supplies you will need. The Text Stops are short segments to read that go along with each stop. I liked having these sections on my iPad because it was easier to read than on my computer and I didn't feel the need to print this section since it doesn't contain anything the student needs for their work.

Alaina coloring her puppets.

Then I went through and printed all of our materials. The instructions are very clear on how things should be printed. It tells you if pages need to be double sided, printed on card stock, quantity, or any other special instructions. I gathered all the required items and we got started. If you are new to making lapbooks you may not have the file folders, but you probably already have everything else.

The girls favorite project was the stained glass windows.

We always do history together and then the girls have their own reading assignments & work to turn in later. Since it is summer time and we wanted this to be a fun activity I did not include a lot of extra reading material with this one, but if it was during the school year you could add some to make the study more in depth for older students. First off we created our passport, our travelogue that looks like a suitcase, and our name tag. Then we were ready to begin. We got our file folders gathered and put together and started on our first stop. I read the Text Stops out loud to the girls and we all listened to the MP3 files then they worked on their notebook and activities together. My favorite part is the timeline. I love that the girls can see how everything fits together in history. Of course they loved the projects the most.

Alaina loves the suitcase. She wants to cut all of her folders now.

The short reading stops are written in a friendly manner that makes reading yourself or out loud very understandable and enjoyable. In the audio files a lady describes what she sees as she tours towns, villages, castle, festivals and more. She meets several people along her walks and there are back ground noises to make the stories more realistic.

Home School in the Woods contains a lot of files. If you start with the Intro file it will help you understand how things work and once you figure that out it is very easy to use. Members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew received all three World History Project Passports if you would like to read about other times in this series.

Homeschool Planet is online planner that will help you organize your school, your home, your life. You and your kids can have separate logins, you can use it in calendar view, planner view or resources, and even get email or text message reminders. Attendance can be tracked, grades recorded, and transcripts created for each student.

To get started you must have a membership to Homeschool Buyers CO-OP, which is free. After signing up for the 30 day free trial or making the purchase you can start planning right away. The first thing I did was put our outside activities in the calendar. I included vacations, soccer tournaments, holidays and anything else I knew we would not be doing any book work. Then I looked at when we wanted to start and finish school for the new year. In NE we are required to homeschool 1080 hours for grades 9-12 and 1032 hours for elementary and Jr. high. Homeschool Planet added up my number of school days for me, and this made filling out my homeschool paper work for the state very easy.

I love calendars! I have a white board calendar on my wall that is 3'X3'. One thing I love about having this in my school room is that I can color coordinate everything. The dates and months are black, birthdays are purple, soccer practice is blue, piano lessons are yellow, and so on. I can do the exact same thing in Planet. Each subject on the calendar is a different color. I also use the calendar on my phone to send me alert reminders. Planet will do this for me in a text or email. Both of my favorite calendar options in one place plus so much more. I have replaced multiple planning features in my home with Homeschool Planet.

After setting up my general calendar I added my girls and then I added each subject we will be using this school year. While adding each subject I can assign it to an individual child or all of them. History is a subject that we do together as a family, we are all always studying the same time period and the older girls are just required to complete more work. So when I added History to our plan I included the name of our spine and assigned it to all three of them. When I added their math curriculum I wanted to include each individual curriculum they were using. That way I can go back and see what each child used when.

You have the option of viewing the calendar for one day, the week, or the month. There is also a drop down menus at the top to navigate through your family members. You can view every one's assignments and activities or an individual person. This feature comes in very handy when I print each girls weekly schedule to include in their paper planner.

Aside from school planning you can add widgets to the sidebar of your Planet. They can include to do lists, shopping lists, a bible verse or quote of the day. You can choose to email or text the lists to anyone that has been created in your family. The widgets that I have on my Homeschool Planet include quote of the day, bible verse of the day, to do list, and shopping list. We love the shopping list, because when the girls need something they can add it to the list and then send it to me.

It is very easy to create a transcript. When I bring up the official transcript I have the option of inputting grades in for one year or four. Each course includes the grade, & the GPA. There are also boxes for additional notes & school and student information.

Homeschool Buyers CO-OP provides low cost homeschool curriculum and resources. It is free to be a member and you can get 10-90% discounts on popular items. The reason you can get such a discount is because the CO-OP brings multiple families together that want to purchase the same product. With that buying power we can get a better price.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Prasso means to practice. To be good at anything we need to practice every day & that includes studying the Bible. We can't expect to grow or our kids to grow in God's word if they don't practice it. This summer we received a teen Bible study from Prasso Ministries.

Teen Prasso Teacher's Manual & Teen Prasso Homework Manual make up a 13 week Bible study. It includes a weekly teaching lesson, a weekly small group discussion, and a daily Student Journal. The lessons in the Teacher's Manual & the Homework Manual correspond with each other, but have different names.

Teacher's Manual/Homework Manual

The Right Beginning/God Your Heavenly Father~ We learned that starting out on the right path will lead your life in the right direction.

The Map/God's Love~ God has given us a map as a standard to live by and help navigate through this life.

The Bridge/Why Doesn't 1+2 Add up in My Life?~ God loves everyone no matter what their past looks like.

The Storms/It's All-Out War~Don't give up when trials come.

The Enemy/The Enemy's Lies...and Where They Lead~There is no need to fear the war that goes on around us, but we must be prepared.

Full Testimony/Pressure!~Looking at peoples choices in life and how God has helped them.

Two Opposing Fears/Anger~Learning the difference between listening to and fearing God rather than man.

Anger/Forgiveness~Learning how to deal with anger.

Forgiveness/Two Brothers-Pride and Selfishness~ Helping students to understand that we must forgive one another.

Pride/Refocus~Realizing pride and selfishness can lead to other sins.

Refocus/Prasso, putting it all into practice~ Students must understand they must train themselves to serve God or themselves.

Prasso/The Journey~Helping students see the benefits to serving God.

Eternal Eyeglasses~Students must look to the eternal to help them through this life and hearing God say "well done".

The Teen Prasso Teacher's Manual is an 124 page spiral bound book. Each weekly lesson contains a teaching outline that explains exactly what to do for each lesson. There is a key verse and message goal included and a fictitious story that is woven throughout the book to help teens understand the principles being taught. There are also tips for asking good discussion questions and how to deal with a diverse group.

Teen Prasso Homework Manual is an 187 page spiral notebook. Each chapter gives a memory verse, an introduction, and an activity for 6 days of the week. The questions make the students think about the verses, what they learned from them, sometimes rewriting the verses in their own words, and questions for group discussions.

This Bible study covers topics that are relevant and practical for teens. The teacher's guide is very easy to use with one student or multiple. If you follow the outline provided it tells you exactly what to do or read next. It tells you what part to read then tells you if you should give an example, ask any questions, and includes additional Bible references to go with the lesson. After using this study the student will have a good look at how they should live their lives and make them feel loved by God through forgiveness no matter what they have done in the past.

I have two teenagers in the house and one preteen. I had Amber use the Homework Manual, but her sisters were around while we read over the Bible verses and the discussion questions in the Student Manual. The questions in the Teacher's Manual really got my girls to talking about what they were thinking. They all thought the story that is in each lesson helped them understand the topic being covered because it gave them a visual they could relate to. The Student Manual really adds to the course and helped Amber see how the Bible can be practiced in her life.

This Prasso Bible study would make a great addition to any home or teen class.